Halfway Through, Team Grades!

Alright, we're at the halfway point of the season for most teams, or just about there, so I figured I'd take this time to give out grades to all the teams out there.

These grades are not necessarily based on the team's record or standing in relation to the rest of the league, but more based on the expectations that many fans and analysts had for the teams. In other words, it's where the team is based on where they should be (okay, so my expectations will have the largest influence).


Atlanta Hawks: B+

No one expected them to get out to such a quick start. They came right out of the gates going full force and took every team they played by storm. How Joe Johnson can be so far down on the all-star voting, I don't know, but then again, all-star voting has been known to be a joke for quite some time now. I expected the Hawks to be a little bit above a .500 team, and I think most people had them right around that mark as well. Since the quick start that's been about where they've been, but with that quick start they get their marks up quite a bit.

Boston Celtics: B-

They're the fourth best team in the league right now, but they were expected to be a top two team. However, with that run they went on earlier this year they really were going to be hard to knock down. The stretch after that run knocked them down quite a bit, but they seem to have broken away from that tough stretch and have won their last three again. While they're not doing as well as expected in relation to the rest of the league, they're still putting up a record about what you'd expect from an elite team.

Charlotte Bobcats: C-

I expected this team to at least be at a level of mediocrity at this point. They still have themselves down there among the poor teams in the league though. The Diaw/Bell for Richardson trade is one that I feel helped the team, and surely helped guys like Wallace and Okafor, but they still have a long way to go before they're the team that's winning at least 35-38 games like they should be.

Chicago Bulls: B-

No one expected Rose to be as good as he has been this year. That kid's been amazing, I don't care about the horrible ESPN Rookie Rankings that currently have him at #4, if you don't have him in your top 2 for this year, then you're completely nuts. However, the Bulls have been a different story. They got off to a solid start, dancing around .500 for a good portion of the first half of the season, but then they went on a rough run that knocked them down to 6 games below .500, which is clearly worse than expected. However, they've won their two games since then, a win on the road against Toronto and then a huge win at home against the team with the best record in the league at the time, the Cleveland Cavaliers. With Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng returning the team's looked completely different, and this boosts the grade from a C to a B- just since they look so much better than they did just a short time ago just from having a few players return from injuries.

Cleveland Cavaliers: A

I know that most of us had the Cavs pegged as one of the best teams in the east and many of us had them as the top team in the Central Division. However, who had them pegged as the team with the best record in the league? Who said they could win around 10 games by something like 12 points or more for each game? LeBron has cemented himself as the best player in the league right now, as great as Kobe is, not even he can carry a team anymore like LeBron can now, it's almost Jordanesque right now, it's scary, LeBron is almost too good right now and he's doing it by taking his game so much above the stats that he puts up, which are already as good as anyone's in the league. Mo Williams has also been a great addition to the team, Ilgauskas is still being productive, Varejao is as annoying to other teams as ever, and Ben Wallace is having his best year in his recent career.

Dallas Mavericks: C

This team has been pretty weak this year. They got off to a horrible start, and that's the main reason for their low grade, especially since they've played very well since then, but that slow start really knocked them down hard and may have knocked them out for the count. They're only a game out of the 8 spot, but they're behind teams like Phoenix, Utah, and Houston who will all be very difficult to knock out of the playoffs. I don't know if many people had them being past the 7th seed or so this year, but most people still had them in the playoffs.

Denver Nuggets: A+

This is a team that I had winning something around 30-33 games this season. They're 3-6 wins from that spot now (depending on which number of expected wins you go by) with 27 wins. The biggest thing they've done this year is make moves. They looked like a team that would be nothing but offense before this season started, so they made some moves, the biggest one being the trade for Chauncey Billups, which has given them the boost to move back into being one of the top teams in the west. In fact, they're the #2 team in the west right now. They're really playing great right now in a year where they were expected to be very mediocre if not poor.

Detroit Pistons: B-

The Iverson trade has really been confusing for me when it comes to how much it's helped the team. At times they look great with him out there and other times they look miserable. It all depends on when you ask as to the answer you will get when you ask what that trade has done to the team. However, Iverson trade or not, the Pistons have gone this year from being the elite team in the east for the last half decade to being just another team in the league. Sure, the emergence of teams like the Cavs, Hawks, and Magic has had a lot to do with that, but the Pistons are starting to show signs of wearing down. Luckily players like Rodney Stuckey have kept a positive future in tact for the Pistons.

Golden State Warriors: F+

This has been a disaster of a year for the Warriors. No one's happy being on the team, the players are getting fed up with the coach, and they really just simply look terrible. The trade for Crawford has only given them another wing who throws the ball up too much. Of course, before the season things were not looking good after Baron Davis signed with the Clippers, but the pickup of Corey Maggette was seen as something that could help the team out. Since then Maggette's become a complete ballhog, and Stephen Jackson really hasn't gotten any better, shooting the ball way too much still without a reasonable reward for it. The fact that they have young prospects like Brandan Wright and Anthony Randolph give the team some hope along with Andris Biedrins, but if the team doesn't show something soon, both of those guys will do whatever it takes to get out of there like the rest of the team seems to want to.

Houston Rockets: C

True, we all knew this would probably happen, but still, when all of your star players start going down with injury it still really hurts the team. From the start Shane Battier was out, possibly the best glue guy in the league today, then Artest has some injury problems, and of course T-Mac's back problems continue to hold him down. The Rockets have a team that could possibly contend for the Western Conference title, but with how things are going right now it's not looking likely.

Indiana Pacers: C-

No one expected the Pacers to be a whole lot, and likely not a playoff team, but I think a lot of people have at least expected the team to be mediocre. However, despite beating some top teams this year, the Pacers have done next to nothing this year. Mike Dunleavy being out for so much of the year hasn't helped things, but with a star player like Danny Granger on the team you'd expect this team to at least be contending for a playoff spot right now.

LA Clippers: D

I don't think anyone really knew what to expect from this team this year. Would their moves, mainly the one for Marcus Camby, make them into a playoff team or would they be just a solid western lottery team? The answer is neither. The Clippers now sit down at the bottom of the league, tied for the fewest number of wins in the league. Chris Kaman's injury has hurt them, but the team as a whole just looks really bad.

LA Lakers: A-

It depends on who you would ask at the start of the season. Some Lakers fans I know even had brought up the word undefeated (although following it up with "probably not, but still..."). The return of Andrew Bynum really had Lakers fans riled up, expecting him to be a 16 and 12 type of guy "at worst". There's no denying that Bynum has been a huge influence on the Lakers and has brought them up quite a bit, but 12.6 and 7.8 is far from the 16 and 12 that Lakers fans had predicted. The Lakers themselves are doing better than I expected. I figured they'd be a team that would win 55-58 games this season, but right now they're at a pace to win about 63. While this isn't all that much above expectations, they started the year with a run that brought up the '95-'96 Bulls to some Lakers fans. They've been strong every since and are the team to beat in the west.

Memphis Grizzlies: C

They ended last year with some things to be excited about, mainly the play of the young Rudy Gay, who was starting to look like he could be a future star. Since then they've added an excellent rookie center in Marc Gasol and a future star shooting guard in rookie OJ Mayo to really give the team a great base to build on. The problem? There just isn't much else. They traded away Mike Miller along with draft pick Kevin Love in order to get a hold of Mayo, and their point guard spot is being run by a couple of guys who really are not starting point guard material in the NBA with Kyle Lowry (who's more of a 2 guard in a point guard's body) and Mike Conley (who's going to be good, but still has to figure things out). I expected them to be a little better at this point, but I guess I couldn't have expected much more out of them.

Miami Heat: B

I may take some "heat" for this one, but really, with how Wade played in the Olympics, having him return healthy, could you have expected anything less than this? It's just a rational look at things for the Heat. Having a healthy Wade pretty much guarantees a team to be above .500, especially when you have guys like Udonis Haslem, Shawn Marion, and #2 overall pick (who could've gone #1) Michael Beasley on the team. I'll say that I had them at a straight .500, especially since I knew they wouldn't be trying their hardest to tank this year (dishonorable on their part last year), they've beaten those expectations by a little bit.

Milwaukee Bucks: B

I didn't really expect the Bucks to be a .500 team, but they've still beaten my expectations in a similar way to how the Heat have. The Bucks have a healthy Michael Redd now along with guys like Andrew Bogut, Luke Ridnour, and Ramon Sessions. I also thought rookie Joe Alexander would be able to come in right away and at least be a solid player, although he's wound up being more of a project than expected. However, rookie Luc Richard Mbah a Moute has come in an has been a very effective player. Right away he was putting up excellent stats, and although those have gone down since his hot start, he's still managed to play above his stats, playing some great defense.

Minnesota Timberwolves: C

Until a few weeks ago this was a D- team. However, since the coaching change they've been much better. I thought that Kevin Love would bring a little bit more to the table than he has so far, but it looks like he's finally starting to figure some things out, regularly putting up good rebounding numbers and starting to put up solid scoring numbers. He has a very high basketball IQ and will likely get better as the season goes on. Mike Miller hasn't been as good as he can be either. However, Randy Foye has really caught fire, and Sebastian Telfair is looking like he's got himself together finally this year as well. Al Jefferson, of course, has been playing like an all-star.

New Jersey Nets: A-

I had them pegged as a lower third of the league team, and I knew people who thought they'd be the worst team in the league. However, Vince Carter has regained a lot of his old form, Devin Harris has suddenly had a resurgence, and rookie Brook Lopez has been a very pleasant surprise (not only falling that far in the draft, but playing like a top 3 pick). The Nets may be slightly under .500 and not quite in the playoffs at the current time, but they're playing so much better than anyone expected.

New Orleans Hornets: C+

This was many people's pick for the best team in the west. Not most, but there were many out there. However, things just haven't worked out as expected. The Hornets are still a team who could walk out of this season as the top team in the west, but they're taking a much tougher path right now than most people expected.

New York Knicks: C+

Well, as bad as they are right now, nobody expected them to get off to the start that they got off to, especially after realizing that Gallinari probably wouldn't be playing much at all this year. Now we're wondering if he'll play much at all throughout his career. However, they've made some big moves to set themselves up for the future, only at the cost of the team quality for today.

Oklahoma City Thunder: C-

Before the last week or so it was a straight D or worse. No one expected the Thunder to be anything this year, but Kevin Durant has suddenly shown that he is ready to be an elite player in the league. On top of that, Jeff Green has been nothing short of a stud this year while Russell Westbrook has suddenly come in and been playing very well himself despite low shooting percentages from the field. They still only have 8 wins, but considering that they were looking to set a league record for futility in winning just a month ago, things are suddenly looking much better for the Thunder.

Orlando Magic: A

This team took the next step perfectly. They didn't make any huge moves during the offseason, but now they're among the best in the entire league. Dwight Howard has cemented himself as a top of the top type of player in the league while the rest of the team has complimented him perfectly. The Magic can be the most dominant team in the league on any given night. I knew they'd be good this year, but not this good.

Philadelphia 76ers: B-

Well, they've been on fire lately, so I brought them up from about a D+ to this point just for the last couple of weeks of play. Before this they were looking really bad. Everyone expected them to push for 50 wins, and they were one of the poorer teams in the league up until recently.

Phoenix Suns: C+

1 ball and a host of big scorers has created a bit of a problem for Steve Nash. He went from having a lot of guys who would be happy to score with what they have to a bunch of guys who expect to be the guys to get the shot. It started with the trade for Shaquille O'Neal last year, then this year it took a whole new life when they gave up Raja Bell and Boris Diaw for Jason Richardson. Throw Amare into the mix and they have a lot of guys who want a lot of touches. While things have not worked perfectly, they've worked about as well as could be expected and the Suns are still a tough team.

Portland Trailblazers: B

They've beaten expectations despite Greg Oden struggling for the most part during his rookie year. Oden's struggles are somewhat encouraging though. While he's not putting up the numbers anyone expected, a lot of it has to do with the fact that he's getting into foul trouble, picking up very ticky tack fouls. After this year I can guarantee these problems will start to fall quickly, as he'll have more respect from the officials, and with the rest of the team being as strong as they are, things are only looking up for the team. However, this is based on right now, and the Blazers are looking very good. Brandon Roy has been amazing for them, and the rest of the team has been fitting together perfectly for the most part.

Sacramento Kings: D+

It's strange, because even as I see what the team's doing I keep thinking that they're a better team than they've really been. Brad Miller is still a good center and Spencer Hawes is coming in as someone who will be a great replacement for him. Francisco Garcia has been doing excellent since coming back from injury, and Kevin Martin is back now as well. Since Martin's been back he's been playing well, but the Kings still haven't been winning. For a team that I expected to put up about 35 wins this year, they're playing well below expectations.

San Antonio Spurs: B

You expect at least 50 wins out of the Spurs every year. However, this is an odd numbered year, so you expect a little more out of them, as they're supposed to be the champions this year. However, things didn't start off so great for the Spurs, as they had some big injury problems to deal with. They managed to pull through, and since those problems have been as good as anyone in the league.

Toronto Raptors: D

This is a team that was starting to look like a team that you could rely on to be in the playoffs year in and year out for quite some time now. However, suddenly they're looking like a weak team. They are not above .500 at home or on the road. They've just looked very poor this year and it doesn't look to be getting any better.

Utah Jazz: B-

They really have been good this year, especially with how they've managed to deal with injuries to both Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer this year, and they're playing very well as a whole. However, they're really not playing any different than expectations this year. I gave them an edge for dealing with the injuries, mainly due to the emergence of Paul Millsap.

Washington Wizards: F

Best for last? Far from it. The Wizards have been horrible this year. Sure, Gilbert Arenas has been injured all year, but they were still a playoff team without Arenas last year. Has the injury to Brendan Haywood taken them down that far? Really? I just really don't totally buy it and feel like that could be it. They're just really playing poorly this year, although they've given a lot of teams good fights, the bottom line is that they haven't been able to get the wins throughout the year, and that's what matters.



Okay, that's the league. If you don't like it, tough luck, you're not going to change my mind without a very good and well thought out response that has enough substance behind it to actually change my mind. However, feel free to comment, there's another half to the year, so who knows how things will change by then.